PSG and Strasbourg have asked to postpone their Ligue 1 Matchday 29 games against Lens and Brest. While waiting for the LFP’s decision on Thursday, the Sang et Or published a long statement to express their disagreement, while PSG laid out its arguments through the press.
When will the “final” of the championship between Lens and PSG be played? Initially scheduled for Saturday, April 11, at Bollaert, this Lens vs. PSG Ligue 1 Matchday 29 game could be postponed until May, between Matchdays 33 and 34. PSG requested that the LFP better prepare for its Champions League quarterfinal second leg against Liverpool on April 14 (first leg on April 8 at the Parc des Princes).
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Qualified for the Conference League quarterfinals, Strasbourg also requested a rescheduling of its game on April 12 at Brest to better prepare for its two games against Mainz on April 9 and 16. On Thursday morning, the LFP’s board of directors will decide, and the strong trend is that the LFP will accept the request from its two European clubs.
After Pierre Sage, who expressed his disagreement last Friday following Lens vs. Angers (5-1), the Lens club itself “came out of its reserve” on Monday evening in a statement. The Lens club begins by recalling that the date for the Lens vs. PSG game was set on March 6, before the Champions League round of 16, and explains that “from the first requests, [it] made known to Paris Saint-Germain its intention not to see this date changed.”
Lens has not changed its mind since and believes that “modifying the date of this meeting today would mean, for the Racing Club de Lens, being without competition for 15 days and then playing games every three days: a rhythm that corresponds neither to what was set at the start of the championship, nor to the resources of a club that could absorb such new constraints without consequence.”
The second-place team in Ligue 1, whose president, Joseph Oughourlian, is a staunch opponent of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, then tries to broaden the debate: “Beyond this specific case, the question raised is more essential: that of the respect due to the competition itself. Because one is entitled to wonder when, on its own soil, the championship sometimes seems relegated behind other ambitions, however legitimate they may be,” writes the northern club, which thus acknowledges in passing that PSG’s request is legitimate.
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PSG indeed wants to give itself every chance to reach the Champions League semifinals and wanted to present its arguments through the press to justify its postponement request. PSG begins by stating that its approach is “structured and transparent, and in no way constitutes a challenge to the championship.”
It is indeed the LFP that will ultimately decide, not PSG or Lens, and the competition’s regulations allow the league to “set the general schedule of events and the match schedule (…) and make any changes to them during the season.”
Beyond the regulations, PSG also wanted to point out that “the performances of French clubs competing on the European stage benefit all of French football, in a context where France currently holds sixth place in the UEFA coefficient for the 2025-2026 season.” France is indeed sixth in the UEFA coefficient for the season behind Italy (fifth) and Portugal (fourth), but fifth over the past five seasons (just ahead of Portugal).
“The issue is important: securing fifth place in the UEFA coefficient, which means better representation for French football in European competitions, with up to seven clubs qualifying,” PSG added. “The success of French clubs in Europe also generates direct benefits for all professional clubs, not only for the teams competing in these competitions. The prospect of seeing two French clubs reach the semifinals of European competitions represents a significant opportunity for Ligue 1, both sportingly and economically.”
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PSG also wanted to recall that it has not been the only French club to benefit from adjustments to its schedule in recent years: “This type of rescheduling has been implemented regularly by the LFP in the past, for the benefit of numerous French clubs competing in European competitions.”
Let us also note that in Portugal, Sporting CP and Braga obtained the postponement of their Matchday 26 game in the Portuguese championship. These postponements also sparked controversy in Portugal, but they allowed the two aforementioned clubs to qualify for the Champions League and Europa League quarterfinals. And an interesting point, the two Portuguese clubs had lost their round-of-16 first legs away from home before qualifying in the return legs.